The Science: Subconscious vs. Conscious Speed
Luke Fenwick is a Melbourne-based life coach, leadership coach and ultra-endurance athlete. He helps men and women master mindset, habits and discipline to build lives they’re proud of. Connect on LinkedIn.
Rewire your brain with 5 powerful habits — Life Coach Australia Insights
Your subconscious is like a seasoned driver who slams on the brakes before you even realise the car in front has stopped.
It reacts in milliseconds and often without your permission, and definitely before you have time to think.
Your amygdala, the brain’s built-in alarm system, detects a potential threat in 50–100 milliseconds.
Before your thinking brain gets a vote:
Heart rate spikes
Muscles tense
Breathing shortens
Your body is already acting.
Meanwhile, conscious thought takes 300–500 milliseconds (or longer) to form a deliberate response.
That delay matters.
Fast Brain vs Slow Brain (Why You React Before You Think)
Daniel Kahneman explains this clearly in Thinking, Fast and Slow.
System 1
Fast
Automatic
Emotional
Reflexive
Your brain on autopilot
System 2
Slow
Analytical
Rational
Intentional
Your fully present, thinking mind
System 1 always reacts first.
You can’t reason with it in the moment. But you can train it.
The real game-changer isn’t trying to out-think your subconscious under pressure.
It’s reshaping it over time, so your autopilot reflects who you’re becoming, not who you’ve been.
So the real question becomes:
What habits train your subconscious to respond in more empowering ways?
Let’s break that down.
The right habits can train your subconscious mind to respond in more intentional ways?
Habit 1: Visualisation With Emotion
Your brain doesn’t know the difference between imagination and reality not when imagination is vivid and emotional.
You’ve felt this before.
A daydream that felt real.
A scenario that triggered emotion without actually happening.
Sitting in the lounge and a song comes on during a movie and your mind instantly goes to another time and place, triggered by a memory
That’s power.
Daily habit for you to try:
Visualise your ideal self for 2–5 minutes
See yourself calm under pressure, confident, resilient
Engage all senses: what you see, hear, feel
Make it emotional as the emotion is what locks it in
Research from Harvard and neuroscience labs shows mental rehearsal activates the same brain regions as physical practice.
Remember the formula:
Focus + Repetition + Emotion + Rest = Rewiring
Habit 2: Intentional Self-Talk
Your subconscious is always listening.
Most internal scripts were written years ago and are often based on partial truths, emotional memories, or someone else’s voice.
And they run quietly in the background.
Daily habit for you to try:
Catch negative self-talk
Reframe it deliberately
Example: “I always mess this up” → “I’m learning and improving every time.”
Say it out loud or write it down. Make it real.
And if the thought is fictitious, call it out for what it is.
That’s BS!
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) shows that reframing thoughts changes brain structure over time through neuroplasticity.
Habit 3: Mindfulness Creates the Gap
You can’t rewire what you’re not aware of.
Mindfulness creates a pause, a gap between stimulus and response, where choice becomes possible.
Daily habit for you to try:
5–10 minutes of breathwork, body scan, or thought observation
Notice without fixing
Observe without judgement
Studies show mindfulness increases grey matter in areas responsible for:
Self-regulation
Awareness
Emotional control
This is how you stop reacting on autopilot. However don’t forget that this can take time, so don’t give up.
Habit 4: Identity-Level Journaling
Your subconscious is deeply tied to identity.
If you want to act differently, you must see yourself differently.
Daily habit for you to try:
Journal from identity, not just outcomes
Prompt: “The version of me I’m becoming shows up today by…”
Writing reinforces identity. Identity shapes behaviour…
Behaviour becomes a habit.
Habit 5: Micro-Actions That Match Identity
Nothing rewires the subconscious faster than evidence.
Small actions send a powerful message:
This is who I am now.
Without evidence, pressure rises and fake positivity collapses.
Daily habit for you to try:
One small action that proves who you’re becoming
Want to be courageous?
Speak up
Run in the rain
Ask the bold question
Keep it small.
Keep it consistent.
In Summary: You Can Rewire…Slowly and Deliberately
You can’t out-react your subconscious in the moment.
But over time, you can train it to respond differently.
The formula:
Awareness (mindfulness, journaling)
Repetition (visualisation, self-talk, action)
Emotion (attach feeling to the work)
Evidence (track the small wins)
This is mental fitness.
This is an identity shift.
This is how you build a new normal where your automatic reactions serve you, not sabotage you.
You don’t have to be ruled by old patterns.
You don’t have to repeat the same old BS until life feels stuck.
You can rewire.
It’s hard.
But it’s possible.
One habit at a time.
Book your free 30-minute exploratory call with me today and discover how the right habits can reshape your mindset and create a new life.
